The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to understand how knowledge management failed to fulfil its promises and became a blurred field of research that gets increasingly diluted in adjacent fields, a catch phrase referring to an eclectic group of intangible phenomena related to learning and roughly to any organizational situations using the word ‘knowledge’; (2) to explore how the use a meta-theoretical analysis may suggest a way forward that moves away from eclectics to unity and highlight the potential KM holds for organizations striving to manage organizational knowledge within turbulent times. Considering the persistence of the conventional rational-cognitive obsession with recipes and the slicing and dicing of organizational knowledge in well-defined, circumscribed, and quasi-observable sub-domains, is timely. This widely spread inclination in objectifying and reifying knowledge fails to help organizations navigate the complex business environment of this first quarter of the 21st Century. Contemporary organizations are compelled to manage knowledge within a VUCA or BANI world. More than ever, firms must consider holistic perspectives enabling the management of an ambiguous and elusive organizational knowledge, while acknowledging the complexity or crisis state of our current world. Practitioners and scholars must go beyond the simplified assumptions currently available in mainstream literature. The following research question guides the study: What does a meta-theoretical study about the evolution of knowledge management reveal on its inherent ontological and epistemological assumptions, and how can this support scholars and practitioners to make most of a VUCA context? Through a meta-theoretical analysis, this paper endeavours to highlight how the field has come to this situation. It attempts to refocus the audience attention on the kernel of organizational knowledge, mechanisms, and dynamics. Meta-theoretical analyses on knowledge management are rare provided that the field is taken for granted and that trends seems to define the field and how it evolves.

This conceptual paper aims to identify and analyse knowledge risks resulting from digitalization. Additionally, the paper tries to present factors influencing knowledge risks arising from digitalization and ways of handling them. The study is a continuation of the research by Durst and Zieba (2019) related to knowledge risks and their potential outcomes. This present study makes an update on the literature on knowledge risks arising from digitalization. The paper offers new insights for researchers dealing with the topic of knowledge risks in the context of digitalization and ways of handling them. The study provides insight for each of us, as the issue addressed concerns us all. By becoming aware of the potential consequences of such knowledge risks, people may meet and cope with digitalization in a better, more enlightened way. The presented paper is based on prior literature and the authors’ reflections, experience, and analysis. Thus, to check for the suitability of the risks proposed, there is a need for empirical studies. Such studies are planned by the authors in the near future.

Considering the relevance of leadership to sustainable business development (Hind et al., 2009; Kurucz et al., 2017; Pham and King, 2019), in this paper, we examine the relationship between leadership and organizational performance. More precisely the focus is on ethical leadership which has been defined as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making” (Brown et al., 2005, p. 120). Ethical leadership has found to be relevant in situations of change, as followers appear more satisfied with ethical leaders, which in turn motivates them to perform better, engage in more organizational citizenship behaviours, and also enjoy higher job satisfaction (Sharif and Scandura, 2014). A recent study by Ali et al. (2022) has also shown the positive relationship between ethical leadership and organizational learning. At the same time, empirical research on the impact of ethical leadership on organizational performance, however, is still limited (Dey et al., 2022). Acknowledging the role of knowledge for sustainable business development (Abbas and Sağsan, 2019; Durst and Zieba, 2020), we argue in this paper that ethical leaders will emphasis and promote continued knowledge creation and knowledge networks to contribute to the firms’ organizational performance (Rhee et al., 2022; Li et al., 2009) and thus their sustainable development. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. We first briefly address the literature background of this paper. We then explain the methodology of the research. This is followed by the presentation and discussion of the results before we terminate the paper with a conclusion.

This paper tests the intellectual capital (IC) framework dedicated to elite athletes proposed by Aprile et al. (2022) on the Italian Paralympic champion Bebe Vio to determine the usefulness of this framework and its components. To do so, the study is based on primary and secondary data from and about Bebe Vio. The findings underline that the IC framework offers a solid approach to determine and learn about the IC of elite athletes (regardless of its type). Additionally, the findings indicate areas that could be added/extended to successfully determine the IC of these persons.

Intangible assets (i.e. intellectual capital, brand, patents, R&D) have a strategic role in creating value for company. According to Fombrun (1996) corporate reputation is defined as “a perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future prospects that describes the firm’s overall appeal to all of its key constituents when compared with other leading rivals” (p.72). ‘Reputation’ is increasingly recognized for its influence on stakeholder support and engagement with companies (Fombrun, 1996; 2012). Corporate reputation (CR), which represents the knowledge and sentiment that stakeholders hold about a company, can lead to long-term benefits and sustainable growth for a company (e.g., Waddock and Graves, 1997; Walker, 2010). Positive CR helps in better sustaining strong profit outcomes over time (Roberts and Dowling, 2002). Several studies have focused on the relationship between corporate reputation and firm performance with mixed results. Based on previous research this study extends the literature on corporate reputation (managerial reputation) and firm performance. Benefiting from upper echelons theory (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), this paper investigates a sample of 68 listed and unlisted Italian firms for 220 firm-year observations during the period 2017-2020. The sample includes eight economic sectors (i.e., energy, industry, infrastructure, fashion & beauty, food & retail, media & telco, transports, and sport). Using three econometric models (Logit, Probit and Weighted Least Squares Estimation (WLS)) this study finds a positive relationship between the score as calculated by Top Manager Reputation and firm performance as measured by DUMMY_ROA (return on assets).

The objective of this work is to identify the strategies of digitalization embraced by the European Capitals of Culture 2020 (ECoC) in replying to the limitations due to COVID-19 emergence and to understand how digital technologies have impacted on their communities by developing resilience and innovation. This study aims to fill this important gap by analysing, firstly, the effects of the digitalization level of ECoC 2020 and, secondly, the impact of COVID-19 on the digitalization choices of ECoC. In particular, it is relevant to examine the role of COVID-19 as it has disclosed the vulnerability of the cultural sector. This study contributes to the academic literature by providing a better understanding of the level of resilience generated vis-à-vis the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of digital technologies in promoting participation in culture and implementing cultural initiatives of ECoCs. In the EU, the Coronavirus health emergency has badly affected the activities of the 2020 designated ECoC. Moreover, a Decision adopted by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Decision that modified the calendar of the European Capitals of Culture . In other words, both 2020 ECoC found in a turning point: either succumb to the pandemic crisis or bounce back to express resilience and creativity by re-imagining digitally their cultural programmes. However, despite the relevance of the topic, the attention from the academic literature on the topic of digitalization in cultural and creative industries is still limited. Moreover, even more limited is the knowledge about the effects of digital technologies and if their opportunities are actually transformed in positive outcomes. This paper aims to fill this gap through an exploratory multiple case study methodology. As a suitable investigative tool for the analysis of a contemporary phenomenon in their natural settings, case study methodology allows to integrate evidences resulting from multiple sources (Yin, 2006, 2008; Eisenhardt, 1989). Data collection, monitoring and analysis rely on the combination of Web-based desk analysis and social big data analytics. The integration of such sources has been addressed towards the investigation of the strategies of digitalization undertaken by the two ECoC cities, Galway in Ireland and Rijeka in Croatia, respectively. Evidences in terms re-organization of the cultural projects, digitalization of the tourist experiences, commitment of local communities and visitors have been derived from the study while the cross comparison of the two cases has allowed to identify common and specific patterns.

Nowadays, companies works in a context characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In this scenario, digital technologies represent an important means to enable organizations and entrepreneurs to adapt in an efficient way to the changing external conditions. Digital transformation is considered one of the most important topic for the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In fact, in order to get more efficient and profitable business, companies implement digital transformation to support business change, strategy and innovation. Thanks to the use of technology the companies have the opportunity to improve efficiency and profitability, making the organization agile, fast and economic. The aim of the present work is to study the changing of business models and the evolution of entrepreneurship skills due to the adoption of digital transformation technologies. The methodology used is a qualitative method, through the development of the literature review analysis. It is a conceptual article through a bibliographic analysis.

This paper presents the Consensual Big Data Maturity Assessment System (CBDAS) implementation in a multinational company leader in the Consumer Goods sector. The business case illustrates the objective and the approach which has been taken with the CBDAS initiative. The paper aims to justify the assessment system as a dynamic and flexible system for enterprises operating in the Consumer Good sector. It can be leveraged to understand the maturity stage in the big data domain and guide organizations about their status of advancement in proposing successful big data initiatives. Some results of the first cycle of evaluation by the Senior Managers and IT decision-makers of Procter & Gamble Company are pinpointed to illustrate the advantages and the exchange of good practices following the evaluation. The paper introduces the CBDAS initiative, implemented on a web application, organized in eight business-relevant domains, comprehensively covering all aspects impacting big data initiatives’ success. The assessment contains weights to evaluate the corresponding relevance of a certain domain within the organization’s reality. Company data activities generate value in synergy with other assets. Therefore, to estimate whether it is a priority to intervene, i.e., on the technologies, data strategies, or organizational culture, we isolate the processes and flows deriving from data initiatives in the company, mapping two exemplary processes to intercept priority actions of intervention. Therefore, by determining the type of interventions on processes and maturity levels in each data maturity domain, we derived concrete actions to bridge the existing maturity gap in higher priority areas.

In this historical moment of pandemic emergency, there is increasing attention inside the sector of the logistics of art to find new solutions to respond to crisis. Even other changes are transforming the art market, that are not related to the contingency period, but almost they refer to the progressive evolution that over time has led to a new definition of the conception of cultural value. Great changes may become an opportunity to progress and “bounce forward” thorough a combination of adaptative and transformative resilient initiatives. Along these considerations, since logistics service providers working in fine-art sector are increasing affirming a central role in the cultural system, they may concretely contribute in the direction of a transformative capacity, serving complete and composited- specialized logistics services, also aggregating them in innovative solutions, meeting the new emerging needs. In particular, integrated logistics providers may offer composite and complete solutions both by drawing on internal and external resources/knowledge of the company. Empirical evidence in this direction comes from the analysed example of triangulated partnership for art services.

The increasing diversity of cultural backgrounds shapes modern working life. On the one hand, this diversification offers potential for a more elaborated information processing. On the other hand, diversity of migration status and age has been shown to be challenging for individuals, due to intergroup hostility, prejudices, and difficulties of intercultural communication. Current research thus focusses on the interaction of employees with different cultural heritages, as well as on their intergroup attitudes and competences. Thereby, leaders have been shown to shape the way diversity is considered in their teams in a top-down process. However, their perception of diversity as well as related challenges and chances are poorly investigated. The current paper thus aims to contribute to the understanding of leader’s perspective on and role in diversity-management. Building on a comparative qualitative study with sixteen employees and twenty-two leaders. The overall research questions are how employees and leaders perceive cultural diversity from their specific point of view, which experiences are likely to contribute to their opinion on and perception of diversity and in how far do employees and leaders differ in these aspects. The results show that employees are aware of the topic of diversity in general but have poor competences in dealing with diversity in their daily working life. This seems to be associated with lack of experience with intercultural interaction and a lack of support from the respective organizations/leaders. Leaders are rarely aware of this lack of support. The results indicate that leaders’ experiences with cultural and age diversity, their identification with the company and previous diversity measures in the context of the companies’ policy towards diversity seem to be relevant for the formation of leaders’ attitudes. As a consequence, most participants focus on the question whether they do or do not want diversity within their teams and companies, while they actually fail to perceive the diversity that is already there.

In this exploratory study, we track beliefs, preferences, knowledge and information-search strategies of high school students in their final year leading to university enrollment. Namely, labor markets and societies of the modern world are presently troubled by skill- mismatch problems and rising numbers of unemployed and inactive graduates, with significant negative financial and public consequences. While macro indicators seemingly point out a generalized problem, recent analyses pinpointed the issue as being significantly specified by differential under- and over-supply of graduates from specific fields. These results have prompted us to explore the actual decision-making process behind the choice of degree program. We have construed a tailor-made survey to investigate awareness, choice sets, determinants and locus of choice behind this important decision. Our results, while reiterating the complexity of this research object, point out significant difficulties and inconsistencies students and their families face in this pivotal choice. First, ever-growing availability of information is not mirrored by enhanced quality of students’ knowledge neither by the level of their awareness of available curricula. While schooling decisions may depend on individual’s joint expectation of many different events, the data underlying these expectations seems to be scarce and low-quality. Students also manifest significant belief ambiguity regarding their own preferences. Furthermore, in a view of schooling decisions as investments in human capital, future work prospects, while featuring prominently among individual stated choice motivations, are not backed up any sort of thorough and coherent information search strategy, so much so that almost half of the students declare to have never looked up the expected employment and earnings associated with their preferred choice. Finally, we discuss both research and policy implications of our findings. In the case of the former, we identify some novel research questions while for the latter we delineate possible action paths for policymakers, mainly regarding the need for precocious and carefully designed information campaigns and centralized and frictionless databases of reliable university-related information.

Human Resource (HR) analytics (or people analytics) includes a large family of methods and applications aimed to analyse people-related data and build robust and effective HR- centred organizational processes. The development of HR analytics is a relevant trend, of major interest for scholars and practitioners, and this is particularly true in the post- pandemic scenario, characterized by growing volatility, uncertainty and complexity. Such conditions are requiring organizations to increasingly put human resources at the centre of their resilience building and transformation processes. Advanced intelligence and decision support capabilities are crucial to build people-centred organizations, and new theory contributions and practitioner advancements are thus needed to provide robust conceptual frameworks and real-life applications. In such endeavour, we present HUMANWISE, an integrated HR analytics system providing analytics tools to support workforce status monitoring, competence re-allocation and development, and predictive analysis. We adopt an interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional approach and a mixed research process, which includes a systematic review of literature on HR analytics and a design science and group model building activity, aimed to involve key stakeholders in the conceptualization and development effort. We describe the conceptual architecture of the HR analytics system, with key design choices in terms of data input, processing and output. Next, we formulate a set of corporate scenarios and an illustrative dashboard to generate decision support functionalities for company managers and provide them with insights useful to build more robust HR-centred transformation plans.

Education is often viewed as the elixir for addressing all kinds of societal ills. This is certainly true in the information age and the challenges posed by social media. PLATO, for example, is a prime example: This remarkable research program focuses on tertiary-level students and uses education as the tool to combat misinformation promulgated on the Internet. To be sure, students (as well as citizens more generally) need the intellectual, emotional, and motivational tools to be savvy and successful users of the Internet, at least to the limits of their capabilities. However, by focusing on the student (person), the goal of combating Internet challenges may be illusive. Such a focus is akin to a version of the fundamental attribution error where the people, educator or researcher tends to focus on, a student’s competence, character, or personality in being duped by social media to while ignoring external situational factors outside of the student’s (person’s) control. In addition to considering how best to educate students and the public in using the Internet to obtain reliable and valid information, three other factors should be considered: the student’s upbringing, the ecology in which learning via the Internet occurs, and the limits of human information processing.

In this paper, we demonstrate that the PTs developed in iPALare particularly suited for increasing students’ COR ability and narrative competence. To analyse this potential of PT described here, we bring together educational psychology (e.g., with regard to simulating students roles as future decision-makers and professionals in organizations), education research in economics (e.g., in measuring the COR ability of students in economics versus students of other disciplines), and narrative research (e.g., for measuring students’ competence in understanding that information is always embedded in narratives, that may “lead” students’ in a particular direction with regard to a specific topic). Our study combines quantitative empirical research (e.g., by measuring the COR ability of cohorts of students using the PT) with qualitative analysis (e.g., analyzing students’ narrative competence on the basis of both information provided in the PT and students’ written answers using this information).

Students are dealing with the information gathered on the internet on an everyday basis. They need to evaluate arguments in various contexts, look for credible sources of information and make valid judgements and conclusions, both for their studies and everyday life tasks. This is why Critical Thinking (CT) is crucial for students on various levels of education. There are various theories about the nature and structure of critical thinking, however, many similarities can be recognized among classical and modern research in this area (Facione, 1990, Lai, 2011). One of the most influential definitions of CT by R. Sternberg presents CT as the “mental processes, strategies and representations people use to solve problems, make decisions and learn new concepts” (Sternberg, 1986, p. 37). A systematic literature review presented by Lai (Lai, 2011) showed that the list of the components of critical thinking typically includes the following items: analysing arguments; making inferences; judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems. However, the implications of CT to the online environment is a relatively new area of study, where the research of critical online reasoning performed by R. Shavelson and O. Zlatkin- Troichanskaya can be singled out (Shavelson et al., 2019). The next generation of standardised assessment is currently being developed and validated for the purpose of evaluation of CT on the various levels of education (Shavelson et al., 2019, Uglanova, Pogozhinz, 2021). These performance assessments use age appropriate complex realistic problem scenarios, thus, students are able to show their real life performance. These scenarios usually combine selected-response and constructed-response items and tasks, which allow students to show various aspects of CT within reasonable time limits. In this study, we would like to present a new measurement tool for the assessment and evaluation of CT in the online environment among university students. CT is considered as a complex structure that includes a sequence of cognitive operations and a not domain- specific type of thinking, which can be developed and assessed in higher education. Based on the literature analysis, the critical thinking definition for purposes of our assessment was suggested – the ability to analyse statements, assumptions and arguments, build causal relationships, select logically correct and convincing arguments, find explanations, draw conclusions and form their own positions when solving problems in an online environment. It consists of three sub-components: Analysing arguments – the respondent evaluates and analyzes the evidence and arguments, as well as the context of their application. Developing sound arguments – the respondent makes logically correct and true conclusions and considers their consequences. Understanding causation and explanation – the respondent establishes causal relationships. (This dimension is not being evaluated in this study.) This measurement tool is made within the framework of the Evidence-centred design (ECD) approach (Mislevy, Almond, and Lukas, 2003). According to this methodology, the researcher should explore what behaviours or performances can reflect the construct. The tasks should be based on the evidence collected from the students’ behaviour and work products, which could make proper inferences about students’ level of critical thinking.

In this paper a new approach has been proposed by a recent H2020 European project, called SoPHIA (2021), which aimed to draft a Holistic Impact Assessment model to evaluate investments on cultural heritage (CH) and that, we believe, could also provide effective insights for cultural organisations in the process of drawing their Sustainability Reporting. Building on these premises, we selected an Italian cultural organization that represents an excellence for its governance model and for the quality of its management: Polo del ‘900 (Turin, Italy), and we analyzed its sustainability report. This aims at highlighting how the management communicate their main objectives and results to the stakeholders. The case study analysed revealed that the overarching model of SoPHIA could be usefully adopted in the drawing of the SR of Polo del ‘900 to detect and to monitor the main area of impacts of their cultural initiatives. The implications of our study are manifold. First, this study contributes to the debate on the evaluation of the value created by cultural initiatives. Second, this study also proposes a new path of self-reflection, useful for managers and professionals of cultural organizations. Finally, a strategic approach can be implemented in cultural organisation as the consequence of this effort.

Digital technologies provide an excellent leverage of innovation in the cultural sector, as they can provide unprecedented opportunities for audience development and engagement. The Covid-19 pandemic emergency has exacerbated these opportunities, as digital tools allowed to break down physical, cognitive and economic access barriers, reaching out to isolated communities, and to provide a tailor-made cultural offer for people with special needs. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of the business model of most small and medium-sized museums and cultural organisations (SMMs). Against this background, the present study is aimed at unveiling how digital transformation could act as a strategic shift and profound organizational change for SMMs: rather than focusing on a single digital cultural initiative, it is strategic to assume a broader perspective that includes the organisations but also spreads beyond to include their cultural ecosystem. The study relies on a qualitative approach, and it offers an in-depth case study of the digital participatory storytelling platform iziTRAVELSicilia and of a selected SMM that initiated a digital storytelling project as a part of a broader digital strategy. Through personal interviews with the stakeholders that compose the ecosystem of iziTRAVELSicilia and of the International Puppet Museum, the paper reveals how new technologies and global free platforms can help small museums to fill their gap in digital communication by engaging local communities, provided that a proper process of digital transformation is conceived and enacted. By emotionally engaging people in the co-creation of app content, the iziTRAVELSicilia project highlights the strategic importance of innovative free tools in promoting cultural heritage and it clearly offers insights to policy makers on the possibility for defining territorial promotion strategies. These results show that, although some museums have been able to invest resources to increase and improve their online activity, small and medium-sized museums have small teams, often with limited knowledge, skills and capacities to use innovative digital tools, and limited financial resources; consequently, they have many difficulties to put in place specific online services and/or activities (e.g. virtual tours, streaming activities or searchable catalogues, AV/VR experiences, or use of social media), unless they are for free and simply to create. Our discussion of the results underlines those digital technologies are an opportunity not only to manage the core activities of museums and cultural organizations in an innovative and more effective way with positive effects on their performance and on the impact generated on society; they can also allow to regenerate and rethink their service / business models and new public engagement proposals.

Against the backdrop of the literature on technological innovation systems and innovation ecosystems, the paper analyses the sustainability transition in Smart Cities from an angle which we argue has not received enough attention so far, the central role of the consumer. The consumer is centrally positioned at the crossroads of Circular economy sectors making him a linchpin for sustainability transitions in which ICT figures prominently as a core technology and enabler of processes of consumption and production in industrial symbiosis. The recycling industry, the mobility sector and Green ICT – industries pertinent to the sustainability transition of Smart Cities – serve to illustrate and further flesh out this new role of the consumer. Current Smart City projects from around the globe are then mapped out with an interest in how the consumer (citizen) is involved in the process beyond being addressed as a service customer and beyond e-participation. The paper combines two hitherto separate but really closely intertwined areas: the technical sphere (industrial symbiosis and industry 4.0) and the management sphere (the Smart City) to reconcile the economic, ecological and social sustainability dimensions as envisioned in the industry 5.0 concept of the European Commission. Bringing the consumer to the forefront of sustainability analyses of Smart Cities can leverage the extent to which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are actually met.

The economic and social impact of Covid-19 is not yet fully assessed. Although the recovery measures adopted by the Italian Government allowed for a compensatory action of the losses, the pandemic crisis heavily affected the Italian economy. If the economic effects of the pandemic will be significant almost everywhere, it can be assumed that in some areas they will be even heavier on the basis of the different economic conditions. Starting from this premise, this work intends to analyse the impact that the first emergency phase linked to the Covid-19 pandemic had on the Italian Regions. To this end, a forecasting model is proposed aimed at determining the impact of the pandemic on the Italian Regions and identifying which of these may have suffered most as a consequence of the pandemic crisis.

This study seeks to determine the effect of individual learning, knowledge sharing, and innovative behaviour among employees in small businesses in Uganda. The research model demonstrates the relationship between individual learning, knowledge sharing and innovative behaviour among employees. Individual learning (self-initiated learning and problem solving) and knowledge sharing (information collection and information donation) are the independent variables while innovative behaviour among employees (supervisor related) is the dependent variable of the study. We used a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional study research design. The study uses primary data source collected from a sample of 360 welding small businesses in Kampala district in Uganda. These businesses are selected because it is a developing segment of the small businesses that has exhibited innovative potential and they are likely to make a significant contribution to the growth of the Ugandan economy. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample. The data was analysed using correlations and regression analysis. When employees share knowledge in form of information collection and donation, it helps them to strengthen their understanding which is relevant in boosting their innovative behaviour. Similarly, knowledge sharing and individual learning that is self-initiated learning and problem solving is important in promoting innovative behaviour among employees. The study findings will help small business owners/managers to develop strategies that will enhance the innovative behaviour of their employees during pandemic such as Covid 19. Policy makers will use the study findings to design policies that will foster innovative behaviour among employees especially the youths in Uganda. The results contribute towards the limited empirical and theoretical evidence regarding the individual learning, knowledge management and employee innovative behaviour in small businesses in a developing country perspective. The study was limited by the design which was cross sectional focussing on snapshot perceptions which could probably not provide quite realistic occurrences of study variables.